


An Enchanting Encounter

by ruusei



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Alternate Universe - After College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-13 17:44:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21498007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruusei/pseuds/ruusei
Summary: Feyre is adjusting to life after Tamlin: living in a new city, working a new job, making new friends, and meeting a mysterious, handsome, stranger. Modern AU.
Relationships: Feyre Archeron/Rhysand
Comments: 18
Kudos: 49





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This will be a multi-chapter fic, probably around 10 chapters. I'm looking forward to sharing a little bit about the Land of Enchantment with you!

Feyre’s boots crunched through the light coating of snow on the path to the parking lot. She held her coat tightly around her as she rushed to Alis’s waiting car. Who would have thought it would snow in Albuquerque? Wasn’t New Mexico supposed to be hot? She really should have done more research before moving halfway across the country. 

It seemed like there were a lot of “should haves” in her life lately. 

Getting into the passenger seat and closing the door against the cold, Feyre was greeted with a pair of voices shouting “AUNTIE FEYRE!!!” from the back seat. Turning, she gave Jayce and Layton a smile as she buckled her seatbelt. “Hey kiddos! Long time no see! What have you been up to?” Both of Alis’s nephews happily chattered away for the duration of the short ride to the library. 

_“Feyre, are you free Saturday morning?” Alis had asked as they ate lunch earlier in the week. _

_“Yeah,” Feyre responded. Feyre was usually free for Alis. Although she had found that she enjoyed exploring the city in the last six months, Feyre hadn’t made many friends and consequently rarely had anything that couldn’t be rescheduled._

_“Great! I found this new program at the library that I wanted to sign the boys up for! It’s supposed to be an introduction to computer programming. Each kid that signs up can be accompanied by an adult. I figured with your expertise you’d be much better at helping them than me. Will you come with us? We’ll pick you up at 9:30. And we’ll go out to lunch afterwards; it’s the least I can do for you helping me watch the boys.”_

_Alis’s nephews weren’t prone to poor behavior, and Feyre was never one to turn down time with the family, so there was only one possible reply to Alis’s proposition: “Sounds good!”_

Upon arriving at the library, Feyre and Alis herded the boys over to the multi-purpose room in the back of the building. “We’ll pick out some books before we leave,” Alis reassured Jayce and Layton as they tried to veer off toward the children’s section. They got in the short line of families who were there to sign in. Glancing around, Feyre could see that the computers lining the room were still under their dust covers - but there seemed to be materials for several activities laid out on the carpet in the center of the room. Feyre’s mind ran, trying to imagine what they might be doing.

“And who do we have here?” A silky voice interrupted Feyre’s analysis, prompting her to look back to the registration table. 

Every thought vanished from Feyre’s head as she realized that the man watching her - waiting for an answer - was the most beautiful man she had ever seen.

* * *

Thank the Cauldron for Alis. She had piped up to sign Jayce and Layton in, and then sat their group down on the carpet, declaring that it would be Jayce’s turn to work with Feyre for the day. Feyre was finally shaken out of her stupor when Alis leaned over to whisper “Enjoying the view?” while looking pointedly toward the entrance, where the man who had greeted them was languidly reclining in a chair, looking more comfortable on the plastic chair than anyone had a right to.

And thank the Cauldron that the black-haired man wasn’t actually leading the class. If he had been, Feyre didn’t think she would have been able to actually be of any help to Jayce as they went through a card game whose rules were laid out a simple if-then-else structure and then advanced to writing their own variant using the same rule format.

As it was, Feyre kept looking around to catch a glimpse of him. She thought she was being subtle, but at one point, the man caught her eye and smirked at her. Feyre had immediately looked away, but strongly suspected that her face was bright red. That was enough to get her to focus very intently on what Jayce and Layton were doing for the remainder of the session, as they wrote if-then-else statements that would provide instructions for walking through a simple maze.

* * *

“So what did you think of the class? Or were you too busy looking around to evaluate anything?” asked Alis as they packed up. Jayce and Layton were talking excitedly with some of the other children in the room, giving Feyre and Alis a moment to themselves.

Feyre swatted Alis’s arm. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she declared. “The class was great! I loved the way they explained everything at a level that kids would understand without being too simplistic.”

“Great! Let’s go give that feedback!” And with that, Alis grabbed Feyre's arm and walked right up to the man that Feyre had been trying - and failing - to avoid looking at for the last ninety minutes.

“Thanks so much for organizing this. My boys had so much fun, and the activities seemed perfect for their age.”

“Thank you so much for coming,” he replied, in a voice as smooth as honey.

“I’m Alis, by the way. And this is my friend Feyre,” she said, gesturing at Feyre, who simultaneously wanted to sink into the ground to avoid the attention and stare at his deep blue eyes in the hopes that she would be able to paint them.

“Rhys. Delighted to meet you Alis.” He shook Alis’s hand. Then looked at Feyre, reaching out while saying “And you too, Feyre. Will you be here next weekend?”

Feyre felt a jolt as their hands touched. His skin was soft and warm. Comfortable. She didn’t want to let go. And as the handshake dragged on longer than would be normal, it seemed that neither did he. 

“Of course,” Alis replied on their behalf, when Feyre took too long to answer. “I’ve got the two kids signed up for the entire session.”

Next weekend? Entire session? Alis hadn’t said one word about anything beyond this morning. Feyre was sure the surprise showed on her face.

Smiling, Rhys let go of her hand. “Then I’ll see you next week, darling.”

* * *

“So you’ll be free for the next three Saturdays?” asked Alis, grinning widely, as Jayce and Layton roamed the stacks, each collecting an armful of books to check out for the week.

“I believe you already committed me to coming. I have no choice but to clear my calendar or make you into a liar.”

“Just doing both of you a favor.”

“‘Both’?” Feyre raised her eyebrows.

“You might have been blatantly staring at Rhys.” 

“I wa-” Feyre started to protest, but Alis cut her off. 

“But he couldn’t take his eyes off you, ‘darling’.”

Feyre gaped at Alis. She must have been seeing things. 

“Come on,” Alis said. “Let’s get the boys’ books checked out, and then I owe you lunch for helping me deal with the hellions for the morning. Unless you want to go back and see if Rhysie darling is still there so that you can ask him out to lunch instead?”

“Alis…” Feyre said, stifling a laugh at the nickname. She shook her head. She wasn’t about to do that.

As she walked out of the library, Feyre hoped this wouldn’t become another “should have”.


	2. Chapter 2

The next three weekends found Feyre in a comfortable routine. On Saturdays, Alis picked her up and they went to the library, where Feyre tried not to ogle Rhys for the ninety minutes they were there, then Alis and Feyre took Jayce and Layton to a nearby coffee shop to eat lunch and hang out. On Sundays, Feyre took care of all her household chores and tried to squeeze in some time to paint or draw.

The day after the first lesson, Feyre had tried and failed miserably to paint Rhys. She hadn’t actually gotten a good look at him due to her attempts to be subtle, and had to rely on her general impression. Feyre was fairly certain that with his dark hair and tan skin, he was Navajo, but something was decidedly _off_ in all of her attempts. She ended up discarding all of them in frustration, instead painting a desert landscape that she worked on for the rest of the week. The snow-covered cacti felt like they should be some kind of contradiction, but the library’s Sauguro cacti had been dusted with snow for the past week and the dissonance had called out to Feyre.

The second Saturday, Feyre figured it out. Kind of. Despite the fact that he had a lot of Navajo traits, his eyes were a deep blue. And his coloring wasn’t quite what she had used - while his skin was tan, it wasn’t as dark as she would have thought. Her painting attempt was closer that Sunday. Although it still wasn’t quite right, it was at least worth completing.

The third Saturday, Feyre figured out for sure. Rhys had a presence about him. They hadn’t said anything beyond a basic greeting and farewell so she couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was. Still, when she picked up a pencil and tried to sketch him with a sort of mysterious presence, it was better. She would need to actually talk to him to figure out what the mystery aura was.

* * *

During the week, Feyre went to her job at the Albuquerque Museum, and endured Alis’s subtle and not-so-subtle hints about Rhys. 

The very first Monday after they had met Rhys, Alis and Feyre spent their lunch break attempting to <s>stalk</s> find him online. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to be mentioned on the website of the organization that was sponsoring the workshop, and their Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn searches yield nothing. Alis and Feyre had looked through what felt like hundreds of online profiles, but none had pictures that looked like the person they had met on Saturday, and none of the names fit with the person they had met. By the end of lunch, it had devolved into a game of inventing the most incongruous last name for Rhys.

In addition to their lunchtime internet <s>stalking</s> research, actual work also kept Feyre relatively busy. Even after six months on the job, she was still learning the ins and outs of everything she had been hired to do. Her job title was the very vague “Technical Specialist” and the main sentence in the position description was the even vaguer “Assist the Museum in its technical needs”. It had turned out that the Technical Specialist maintained the museum’s main website and fundraising portal, updated the museum’s blog, and formatted their digital and print newsletters, as well as basically anything else that seemed to require more than a rudimentary knowledge of computers. She was frequently called in when software issues arose on staff computers, and just before Christmas, Feyre had been shocked to learn that they also expected her to troubleshoot hardware problems when an admin’s printer had gone haywire. 

But the biggest project the Feyre had been assigned to, the one that was taking most of her time, was the massive upgrade to the museum’s membership system to allow people to manage their memberships online. Her supervisor had put out an RFP and selected a vendor, but he hadn’t been very good at defining project requirements or conducting any sort of project management. The project had landed on her desk when she had been on the job for all of three weeks. After all, who has more time to manage the project than the new hire who hadn’t been given any other major assignments yet? 

The lack of prior project management showed. Feyre was constantly finding shortcomings in the product versions that were presented and had to keep sending them back for corrections. Sometimes, she felt that Hybern was intentionally disregarding half of the things she said just because she was a woman in the very male-dominated tech field. But it was probably that they were just plain incompetent. After all, what else could cause them to completely fail to implement specifications that _they_ had written?

Still, the work was interesting and kept her busy, and easy access to the museum collections in her free time was a great plus. 

* * *

The Thursday before the last class, Feyre and Alis were eating lunch in the break room when Feyre made a strangled noise.

Alis looked up. “What’s up?” 

Feyre handed over her phone, which displayed a photo on her Instagram feed.

Alis looked at it for a moment. “That’s Tamlin, isn’t it?” she asked, hesitantly. They’d talked about him quite a bit in the first month that Feyre was in Albuquerque.

“Yep. With _Ianthe_.”

Alis raised her eyebrows, questioningly. “_The_ Ianthe?” They had also talked about Ianthe.

“Yep.”

“Well.” Alis paused for a moment, thinking of something to say to elicit more of a response from Feyre. “They’re quite cozy, aren’t they?”

“Yep.”

“Is that all you have to say?”

Feyre settled for glaring at Alis rather than deigning to reply. 

“Look, you’ve been broken up for months. He was bound to move on at some point … Unless you’re now feeling bad for Ianthe because Tamlin is going to ship her off to Middle of Nowhere, South Dakota when he decides to break up with her.”

Feyre let out a strangled laugh. Alis had a way of knowing what kind of sharp humor would make her feel better. “Ugh. She would hate South Dakota. She’s probably trying to convince him to move to New York City because Boston isn’t cosmopolitan enough for her.” Feyre paused for a moment before a realization popped into her head and caused her to shove her lunch to the side and put her head in her hands in frustration. “But Ianthe is probably smart enough to not get talked into moving somewhere she has no business being.”

“Hey,” Alis interjected before Feyre’s downward spiral could gain any further momentum. “I’m glad that you’re here. You’ve been doing a phenomenal job at work, so I’m sure the Museum is glad that you’re here. And you’ve told me multiple times that you like Albuquerque, even though you might not have picked it on your own.“

When Feyre didn’t respond, Alis changed the subject a little bit. “Why don’t you ask Rhys to get lunch after Saturday’s class? It’s clear that Tamlin has moved on.”

Feyre looked up. “He can move on. He’s the one who broke things off and pushed me away. I was the one that wanted to stay together. Even if now I see that it would have been stupid and he was terrible for me, it just doesn’t seem right.”

“That’s silly. And besides, I didn’t say anything about _dating_ Rhys. Just make a friend. You could use more of those here.”

It was true. Feyre hadn’t made any friends other than Alis in the <s>six</s> seven months she’d been in the city. Coworkers she was fond of, yes. Acquaintances, yes. Neighbors she could nod “hi” to in the hallway, yes. Even people she would happily greet and make small talk with while browsing art galleries on a lazy Sunday or wave to while in line at the coffee shop. But no one else she would actually call a friend.

“I don’t even know how I’d go about making friends. I fell out of practice with Tamlin being the way he was. We’re only friends because you took all of the initiative.”

“Well, you’ve got to start somewhere.”

Feyre gave a non-committal shrug. “Maybe. We’ll see. Maybe not with Rhys, though.”

“Why not? Seems like as good a time as any to try.”

“I don’t know,” Feyre said with a shake of her head. “I’ll think about it.”

“Well, last session of the class is in two days. Try not to take too long.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Rhys, I know, I know. But I really want to build out Feyre as a person, independent of all things Feysand. Rhys will be back in the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

Feyre was nervous. She had tried to convince herself that she wasn’t, but she was.

She put much more thought than she should have as to what long sleeved shirt and pair of jeans she should wear. And then triple-checked to make sure that her hair looked okay, even though her brown locks were simply pulled up into a ponytail. 

She didn’t want it to look like she had put a lot of thought into what she would wear. But she didn’t want to look bad.

When her phone beeped with a text message from Alis saying she was outside, Feyre took one last look at herself in her bedroom mirror, put her boots on, and walked out the door.

* * *

Class went by in a blur. Feyre worked with Layton as he put the final touches on the artwork he had designed on the computer, then walked around the room with him, admiring everyone else’s work. 

At the end of class, Alis sent Jayce and Layton out to look for books to borrow before grabbing Feyre’s arm and walking up to Rhys. 

“Feyre and I always go out to lunch after these classes. Do you want to join us? We’ll be going to the small cafe on Gold Street with the big glass windows.”

Feyre tried not to show her confusion. She loved Gold Street Cafe - they served brioche french toast that was to die for - and she and Alis had been there several times in the past, but for the last three weeks they had gone to Flying Star Coffee, a coffee shop that was more child-friendly. 

To her surprise, Rhys smiled and said “I love that place. I’ll meet you there in about 30 minutes? I need to make sure everything gets cleaned up…” He seemed almost nervous at making them wait. 

“Not a problem,” Alis responded. “Jacye and Layton will need that time to decide what books they’re borrowing for the week. See you there!”

The moment they stepped outside of the multi-purpose room, Feyre grabbed Alis’s arm and whispered “What are you doing?” 

Alis grinned. “Giving you the chance to practice making friends.”

“Fine,” Feyred huffed in mostly faked irritation.

* * *

Feyre could see the mild surprise on Rhys’s face when only Feyre was waiting in the foyer of the cafe.

“Layton had a sore stomach, so Alis wanted to take him home in case it was a stomach bug. She said that we couldn’t abandon you entirely, and dropped me off before heading home,” Feyre explained, not voicing her suspicion that Layton was perfectly healthy and that Alis had planned this stunt in advance. This cafe was a reasonable walk from her apartment whereas Flying Star wasn’t. 

“Ah. Well, please tell them that I hope he feels better soon.” If the slight amusement in his eyes was any indication, Rhys probably had a similar suspicion. 

The hostess led them to a small table set for two. Feyre glanced over the menu, already knowing that she would be ordering the brioche French Toast.

Rhys put the menu aside without even opening it. It seemed he had a standard order as well. 

“Are you a regular here, or something?” Feyre asked, trying to make conversation.

“Yeah… I know the owner.” He had paused, as though he had to think through the explanation. “I’ve been subjected to so many dishes in various stages of development. Everything on the menu is delicious.”

“Rhysand!” their waitress exclaimed, bringing two cups of water. “It’s been too long!”

“Sorry, I’ve been a bit busy…” he replied, meekly.

The waitress turned to Feyre, saying “It looks like you’re ready to order. What’ll it be?”

“The french toast, please. With the fruit on the side.”

“Okay.” Turning to Rhys, she asked “The usual?”

“Yes.” 

The waitress jotted some stuff down on her pad, then looked at Feyre. “Tea for you, too? Coffee? Something else?”

“Tea would be great,” Feyre replied. Their waitress noted it down, and left the table. Returning shortly with two pots of water and an assortment of tea bags to choose from. Rhys waited for Feyre to grab her peppermint tea bag before choosing English breakfast for himself.

“So, have you always lived in Albuquerque?” Rhys asked. Feyre was relieved to not have to be the one to instigate a conversation.

“No,” she replied. “I’ve only been here since June. I just graduated from college. During my last semester, I was job hunting and my… friend... found a posting to do IT stuff for the Albuquerque Museum. I’d been looking for jobs both in the comp sci world and the fine arts world, and the position sounded like it would kind of combine both. I moved out here to take the job.”

“Those are two rather different interests.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve always loved art. Especially painting. But when it came time to declare a major, I could just see my older sister’s face when I told her that I chose the BA in Fine Art over a ‘practical’ degree, so I signed up for Computer Science instead. Comp sci is fascinating, and programming is creative in its own way, and my advisor ended up talking me into double-majoring, so I’ve got the best of both worlds anyway.” Feyre didn’t want to bore him by only talking about herself, so she turned the conversation back on him. “So what about you? Have you always lived in New Mexico?”

“Actually, yes. Born and raised in Albuquerque. I spent a lot of time on the rez with my mom’s family, especially during school breaks. I’m half Navajo, but my dad’s white and he wanted me to get a traditional ‘American’ education.” Ah, that explained his blue eyes. “It’s that juxtaposition that made me embrace Velaris’s mission.”

“So what do you have to do with Velaris?” Feyre asked. “To be honest, I don’t even know what they do - I’d never heard of them until Alis brought up the workshop series.”

“Velaris does a lot of different things. But the basic idea is that it helps to support under-served youth, especially those in the Navajo nation. Education programs, health initiatives, trying to get better infrastructure in place, general advocacy work, that sort of stuff. I help to run some of the programming that they put together.”

It seemed as though Rhys didn’t want to go in depth about his role, but he’d seemed passionate about Velaris itself, so Feyre asked him, “So what’s some other stuff they’ve done?”

Rhys talked about a summer camp they organized on a reservation about an hour out of the city, to provide children with a place to go when school was out during the summer. “It’s a good chance to give the children the kind of experiences that kids in big cities have - again, something I got to experience that a lot of my friends on the rez didn’t. And it also lets us offer some employment opportunities for school staff that otherwise have to go two months without a paycheck.”

At that moment, Feyre’s phone vibrated with an incoming call. A quick glance at the screen showed it was Alis. She was probably calling to give Feyre the opportunity to escape if it was going poorly. Feyre sent the call to voicemail, and typed a one-word message to Alis: “Meddler” before looking back at Rhys and apologizing for the brief interruption.

Feyre was wondering how to restart the conversation when their food arrived and saved her from the awkwardness. As expected, her french toast looked delectable. Rhys had something that looked like a variation on eggs benedict. “Eggs benedict on a green chile biscuit,” he explained, when he noticed her attention on his plate. “The hollandaise also has some green chile mixed in.”

Rhys paused, but then pushed his plate slightly toward her. “Do you want to try a bite?”

It felt rather intimate, but Feyre did indeed want to sample the dish, so she said “Yeah, if you’re okay with it,” and carefully cut off a bite. She chewed slowly, savoring the flavor. “It’s good!” she exclaimed. “It’s got a bite, but not as spicy as I was afraid it would be. I’d consider getting it the next time I come here.” She started on her own meal, before realizing that she probably should have offered him a taste. “Did you want to try?” she asked, gesturing to her plate and trying not to grimace.

“It’s fine,” he replied with a smile. “I’ve had it before.”

They ate in silence for a while, before Rhys picked up the conversation again. “Since you haven’t been in New Mexico for very long, is it presumptuous to assume you haven’t been out to any of the Navajo reservations?” 

Feyre shook her head. “No, it’s not, and I haven’t. I actually don’t have a car here. I have my license, but basically everything I need is within walking distance, so I rent a Zipcar or catch an Uber when I actually need to go far.”

“Any interest in heading out to a rez with me for the day next Saturday? There’s a middle school about 30 minutes out of town that’s putting on a community fair as a fundraiser. Velaris has a booth, so I’ll be going to help out. You could see more of what we do and see another side of the state. I’m happy to give you a ride.”

It was a nice invitation, and Feyre was supposed to be making a friend. On the other hand, it felt a little reckless to get in a car and go out in the middle of nowhere with a man she barely knew. The tiny voice in the back of her head was saying that she should go. 

Seeing her hesitation, Rhys added, “Alis would be more than welcome to join us and bring her nephews, too. They’ll be lots for kids to do.”

That was enough to push Feyre toward a decision. “Okay. I’ll come. And I’ll ask Alis. What should I tell her if she wants details about where it will be?”

Rhys gave her the name of the town, and Feyre verified that her maps application put the pin in the correct location, before saving it all to her calendar.

The conversation comfortably flowed for a while more, but then their plates were empty and the restaurant was closing. Time had flown a lot faster than Feyre had expected, and she was surprised that she felt glad that she’d be seeing Rhys again in a week. They split the bill at Feyre’s insistence then made their way toward the entrance. As they put on their winter coats, Rhys took a deep breath before carefully asking “Do you want to trade phone numbers? It would make it easier to coordinate for Saturday.” 

“Okay.” Feyre held out her phone. “Put your number in. I’ll text you.”

Rhys handed her phone back. “You mentioned that you don’t have a car. Do you need a ride?” It was a bit forward for someone she had just met, but Feyre couldn’t fault him for being polite.

“I’m good, this is one of the places that’s walking distance from my apartment.” Rhys raised an eyebrow as Feyre continued, “Alis chose a good place to meet.” 

“How lucky we are for Alis’s decisions, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this partially written several few weeks ago and then life got in the way. Moving is stressful! I hope this is the last move we make for a good long while. There are still a lot of boxes to unpack, but hopefully the next chapter won’t be as delayed.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think!


End file.
